


hold my hand (i'll walk with you my dear)

by astrolosts



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, also some pre-getting-together probably, just short drabbles about the life i think mulder and scully deserve, set in the msr-domestic-bliss-universe where everything is Fine, title from little talks by of monsters and men because that's msr's song i decided, ur gonna need a dentist after this because it is tooth-rotting fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21943615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrolosts/pseuds/astrolosts
Summary: In her mind she stays for tonight, for always, closes the door behind her and never lets it be opened again. Monsters and aliens could run free and destroy the earth and she would be here, with Mulder, and they would be untouchable. The Truth can remain out there. She wants to be in here.or; my collection of (mostly) soft msr drabbles.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 13
Kudos: 57





	1. Berry Surprise Whatever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kittenscully](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittenscully/gifts).



> because i love her very much and this wouldn't exist without her, so everybody say thank you lily. set in no particular place in time.

Mulder, as a rule, is a bad orderer. Ice-cream, of course, is no exception.

"Mulder, you've got your own cone!" Scully childishly protests, and moves her pistachio ice-cream out of his greedy reach.

He pouts at her, puppy eyes and all, tragically licking his berry-surprise-whatever. "It's not as good as yours," he complains.

Scully rolls her eyes, force of habit, and licks her spoon. "Of course it isn't," she very lovingly lectures him, "You always insist on getting the weirdest flavours you can find. This is on you."

Mulder smiles brightly, leans close. His breath tickles her ear. "You've got to explore the possibilities, Scully. See what's out there."

What is out there, according to Mulder, is monsters and aliens, the supernatural, banana ice cream that made him dramatically swear off sweets for a week. Scully takes her spoon and sticks it in his ice cream, then puts it in her mouth. It tastes so bad she almost laughs.

"Yeah," she quickly goes back to her own cone, takes a generous lick to get rid of whatever it is she just tasted. "I think i'm good."

Mulder makes a face. She can't help but smile back. They walk away from the ice-cream shop and towards the park, Scully selfishly enjoying her choice of flavour and Mulder enviously eyeing her cone. He throws his away before she is even halfway done with hers.

"Wait, Scully—" he stops in his tracks and grabs her forearm, grounds her. She is finished with her ice-cream and is in need of a napkin, but that flees her mind when she looks at him. Worried, she furrows a brow. "Mulder? what is it?"

He points at her face, eyes focused on her lips. "You've got a little— right there..."

Scully goes to wipe her mouth, but he stops her, tenderly cups her cheek. "Let me," he almost whispers, and kisses her, as warm and soft as the summer sun they are standing under. He steps away, after a few long moments, beaming, eyes shining. She meets his gaze with a smile of her own, pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah," Mulder muses as he continues to walk, as suddenly as he stopped. She hurries after him, clasping his hand. He laces his fingers with hers. "Next time i'm definitely getting pistachio."


	2. December 1st

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> set in no particular part of the show

It's a regular Friday night for them. Well, newly regular. Mulder has his reading glasses on, absentmindedly browsing through an old x-file, and beside him rests a tired scully he promised to take home and never did. _I'm just sitting down for a moment, Mulder_ she told him, already kicking off her shoes. _I'm not staying_. That was forty minutes ago, and here they both are, him working away and her sound asleep. Second time this month. 

He is about to leave her curled up on his couch for the night and find a way to head to bed himself, when something outside of his window catches his eye, and he finds himself smiling like a kid on Christmas morning. 

"Scully, hey," he turns to her, nudges her knee. "Scully, wake up."

Scully jolts awake, panicked for a moment, then slows down. She blinks sluggishly, still clinging onto much needed sleep, a little unsure of her surroundings. The knit pattern of his sofa cover has imprinted itself on the soft skin of her cheek, branding her a new, special type of sleepy and domestic that he has yet to have the luck to see, and it makes his heart ache. Scully, his partner. 

"Morning, Scully," Mulder says, and she scrunches her nose. He jokes often, but he's unsure of how to express this fondness he feels, of her and of this aberrant softness he is still getting used to witnessing.

"What is it, Mulder?" she yawns and stretches her arms above her head. He points towards his window, at the shiny white flakes swirling in the air, gathering on neighbouring rooftops. 

Mulder smiles at her, bright and childlike, but she looks unamused. "You woke me up for this?"

No mention of her going home, to her own bed. She expected to stay curled up in a little scully-ball on his couch again, too. His heart skips a beat. Scully, his. 

"Scully," he cocks his head at her, then looks back outside. "It's the first snow."


	3. Space Between

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little less fluffy. thank you my darling lily for helping me name this.

Every bone in scully's body is tired, every muscle strained and her feet beg her to rest. One too many times, she and Mulder escaped by the skin of their teeth, just barely crossing the line between dead and alive.

She walks up the stairs leading to Mulder's place, watches his hand dangle by his side. His fist clenched around nothing but a memory of what they just survived. _grab it_ , her mind tells her so clearly and loudly, but her own hands remain in the pockets of her blazer, where Mulder cannot see them tremble. 

They reach his door. Two people standing in a hallway, breathing. He's miserable, hasn't slept in days, but Scully so selfishly wants him to stay awake with her. She’s afraid of what might be waiting behind her eyes if she were to close them.

Mulder fumbles with his keys, and she stays as close as she can without alerting him of just how exhausted she is, in his space but not quite. It has been a while since either of them got to shower properly, and he smells so much like _Mulder_. He smells safe. She wants to wrap herself in him.

"Drive safe," he tells her quietly once he gets his door open, and it most definitely is a goodbye, but it's daring her not to go. He doesn't thank her for walking him home, but she didn't expect him to. She just wanted to see him get there.

In her mind she takes a step forward, a step into his apartment, back into his space, she rests her hands back in their rightful place, on his chest, his shoulders, the back of his neck, in his hair.

In her mind she stays for tonight, forever, closes the door behind her and never lets it be opened again. Monsters and aliens may run free and destroy the earth but she would be here, with Mulder, and they would be untouchable. The truth can remain out there. She wants to be in here.

"Scully? Did you hear what I said?"

She recognises the furrow of his brow as concern, and realises how quiet she’s been. Two people standing in a doorway, breathing. He touches her arm, ever so gently, and she lets his touch bring her back to reality, as unhappy as she is with it. At least Mulder is existing in it with her. 

"Yeah." She wants him to ask her not to go. He won't. But she cannot ask to stay. "I'll see you on monday."


	4. Doctor Scully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little emily fluff for the soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> small birthday gift for lily (thank you for reading this unedited in the middle of the night and giving it love and supporting it like you always do. i love you so very much)

It could be worse. The bullet only grazed his shoulder, the injury is superficial, he's lucky to only need bandages and not surgery. It could be worse, Mulder tries to convince himself, wincing as Scully slowly unwraps his wound.

He hears a soft gasp coming from the living room, followed by Emily's blonde little head emerging over the sofa’s armrest. She eyes his shoulder, takes a moment to let her teddy bear do the same. Mulder gives her a small wave with his good hand.

"Hold still, Mulder," Scully instructs him, and he closes an eye and makes a face for their audience while she carefully dabs his wound with iodine soaked wool. He sucks in air through his teeth at the contact.

"Mommy, what happened to mulder?" Emily asks in a small voice, making her way to the kitchen table where they are sitting. It's mid January and she's in Christmas pajamas, and if he didn't have a hole in the side of his shoulder he's sure Scully would be embarrassed.

Mulder watches as Scully's smile grows warmer, voice softer. "Mulder's okay, sweetie. remember when you fell last week at the park?"

Emily nods vigorously, seriously, and kicks up her knee for proof. "Mulder needs a bandaid and a kiss?"

"Exactly."

She stands for a while with a pensive expression, brow furrowed in a miniature version of his favourite expression, before she comes to some sort of conclusion and hands her teddy bear to Mulder. He hugs it close and nods with a smile as she promises to be right back.

The house is quiet for a minute but for scully's breathing in his ear and Emily rummaging through drawers in another room. Scully expertly applies pressure and rewraps him in clean bandages and he shoots her a grin when she steps back to appreciate her work.

"Hey," he says quietly, motioning for her to come closer. She leans down to his eye level. "Am I not getting a kiss?"

She gives him the obligatory eye roll, but Mulder recognises fondness in her smile. But She doesn't get a chance to reply (or better yet, kiss him); before she even opens her mouth, Emily dashes across the room, jumps over the armrest of the sofa. She lands on her knees and grins widely.

"Mulder!" Emily whispers loudly, hands behind her back. "Come sit!"

Mulder looks up at Scully for doctor's approval and she shrugs. He gets up, left arm stiff, and as he makes his way to the living room Scully holds his right shoulder, only for a second, and mouthes _later_.

"Hey, Em," he greets her as if he didn't say those same words only a half-hour ago at the door. She taps the cushion beside her seriously, and he sits down, quizzically, Emily's teddy bear sat securely in his lap. Scully watches from the kitchen, dirty dinner plates in hand.

From behind her back, Emily pulls a white tin box, opens it to reveal a collection of colourful band-aids (mental note: check Scully’s ankles next time she gets new shoes. Must tease for superman band-aids). Emily picks one out and sets the box down on the coffee table, wobbling a little. His hands instinctively reach to catch her.

"Pink," she explains, short fingers struggling with the wrapping, "The prettiest."

Mulder's smile grows three sizes. "For me?"

Emily nods, swats his hand away when he tries to help her with the bandaid, like scully does when he helps her cook dinner. She manages eventually, and reaches to clumsily stick it onto his bandaged shoulder. He chuckles.

She then leans down to give him a small kiss on the forehead, holding each side of his head for balance. She pats the scruff on his cheek with a fumbly little hand and mirrors his smile, sweet and filled with pride.

"All better now," she promises in a soothing tone that's entirely her mother's. He holds her warm palm against his cheek.

"Thank you, doctor Scully."


End file.
